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Kai is the only one home today, except for his little dog. It's not such an unusual thing these days. Though he has a studio in Hell's Kitchen, he can't just not do art, so he's on the couch with a sketch pad, watching his sleeping dog as he sketches him. The dog is under a chair, flopped on his back beside a stuffed frog that has been well-chewed. On the stereo, Bob Dylan is playing.
Sif had arrived! Hail! and… really was terrible at navigating Midgard. The good news was someone from the Agardian Embassy(tm) was able to make contact and connect her with where she needed to go. After a little while? A knock.
Kai sets the sketchbook aside and gets to his feet. He's in jeans and a white t-shirt, totally out of his beatnik costume. When he opens the door, he looks sleepy and a little irritable, but when he sees who's there, his features transform into warmth and delight. "Sif!" he says. He ushers her in. "How are you! I didn't get enough time to say hello last time!" Stupid frost giants.
Sif let her face form a smile of warth like carved teak in the sun that was Kai's joy. "You might say we were a bit preoccupied. Still, look at clever you. It does me well to see you after this time. You… are you here alone?" Her dark eyes roved the contemporary chambers of the room carefully. Oh, yeah, she'd heard.
Kai shakes his head and says, "Oh, no. Two others live here." The dog, disturbed from his nap, ambles out to see what's going on. Far too late to be effective, he barks once at Sif. Guard dog, on the case. His tail wags as he makes his way to Sif to sniff her feet. The poor animal is about he size of a middling cat, and he's not much to look at, but he seems like a cheerful enough animal. "This is Kevin," Kai tells Sif with a beam of pride. His fearless hound!
Kai makes his way to the kitchen, where alcohol lives, and he pours two glasses of whiskey. Coming out to offer Sif one of them, he says sheepishly, "Prince Loki lives here as well, and a mortal named James."
Sif smiled to the dog. Tiny. Ferocious. She almost wanted one. "Hail and well met friend." The mention of Loki brought up a flat look. "Yes. I was forewarned. I do not believe I know of James though, or at least not by that name. Still, I have come to bear you good news and good tidings, Kai… from your mother." She took one of the glasses and waited with pleasant demeanor inspite of other things.
Kai's brows lift. "Forewarned?" He takes a drink of his own whiskey, then asks, "What exactly did they tell you?" Surely she knows that shifty-eyed look. The elf is hiding something. News of his mother perks him up. Good tidings? "Please, tell me," he says. "How fares she?" So easily he abandons his Earth persona to fall into the speech patterns of home.
Sif said only, "That he was here." No love lost clearly, but she wasn't going to carve Kai's path for him either following it up with, "She is found well. Patient, and hopeful. After my time withthe Frost Giants you, others of Midgard, family brought me back. I have been trying to find how best to repay this and thought for you I might do the same. I spent the last two moons in Alfheim to visit her and see what might be done to aid your family."
Kai scuffs a foot and says, "He's changed. He was killed on the Bifrost, and he was reborn anew. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. He's not that man anymore." Yes, he's definitely hiding something. But the news of his mother sets all that aside, and he puts his glass on the counter, the better to approach her, taking her hand in both of his. "Sweet Lady Sif, you owe me nothing. This is a gift you give me. Is there hope?"
Sif arched one eyebrow only a titch and made no comment there. No love lost. Oh, she could hold a grudge in ways that make Dwarves weep with pride. Still for all she was inseperable from War, War had purpose and that was to help someone win. Today taht someone was Kai. Her hand came up under where Kai's had clutched hers. "THere wa much deliberation and so far they have agreed to reopen a eharing. You've seen court politics. It looks favourable to perhaps shorten her sentance. I don't know when, or by how much. It is looking favourable for her but it will be a couple moons before we know."
Kai knows he will be defending Loki til the day he dies. He signed up for it when he signed up for everything else. He'll ease Sif into the knowledge that Loki is his choice, his love and his life. Just. Not right now. He sags with relief and says, "Oh, Lady Sif, this is the best news I've heard since they were taken." He purses his lips, then asks tentatively, "Did she say anything about me?" The son who never visited.
Sif took a drink and sat. From inside her belongings she pulled out a small scroll case not much bigger than half a pretzel. It had a wax seal onthat and she handed it to Kai. "Many words. Pleased was she to hear you were hale and hearty. That you were happy and with the respect of your peers gave her comfort. And to tell you in staying away you protected the thing she loved most" She paused and squint, "She said some other things as well. I was given the distinct impression she was not a fan of Aelven politics." The Warrior woman's voice fell silent letting him take that in. IT was a lot of a lot.
Kai takes the scroll and sits on the floor beside Sif, just like he did when he was younger. He's grown, though. He's got facial hair now, his shoulders have gotten broader, though not by much. He won't be a youth much longer, maybe only another fifty years. He scan the scroll eagerly. He laughed a little when Sif says he protected the thing his mother loved the most. "The apple? It's safe," he says. He looks up at Sif. "Aelven politics are dreary. Imagine living in paradise and bogging it down with so many words about so many tedious things."
Sif smirked and corrected, "I think she meant you> The apple is what befell such prediciment to begin with. Might be able to leverage tha tinto a pardon but legalities are not my forte. Percussive negotiation? Yes. This…?" This was an entirely different beast. "I don't know hwy someone would ruin a perfectly good paradise and talk through it any different than seeing a performance and facing the other direction." Her hand went out to Kai's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "You helped me get back to my family. I will rest again when you have yours, Kai. Until then while we wait? There are those of Midgard I still wish to repay my thanks to." Her chestnut eyes floated through the room in a glance and back to Kai decisively, "I wish to see more of it. We are able to make this possible?" By we she meant Kai.
Kai nods quickly and says, "Oh sure, I know all the places in this city." He grins, all dimples and bright eyes. He's still got that sweet, heartbreaker's face. He gets up so he can hug Sif. "You know I would do it again, any old time, and you'd never have to even say thank you," he says. "Family means so much." He admits quietly, "I miss them. Mom and dad. Is he doing all right? I worry about him in confinement."
Sif hugged him like he were little different than an extended nephew. Words were bond, and friends a different sort of family- and were anything to happen to her surrogate nephew she might have to hunt Loki down and string him up by his shiny horned helm and have a word. At the question she drew a breath and held it. "I wasn't able to speak with him. We can try though. Two moons was not a long time, but that does not mean that there i not time either. I like to think of this as a good start to a long battle ahead. But we do not have to fight it alone. It does mean we'll have to head back to Alfheim after a bitif agreement finds you to."
"It's a battle well worth fighting," Kai says, and his voice tightens with emotion. He hugs Sif tighter, then releases her and sniffles. "We'll fight it side by side." He smiles, eyes glittering and bright. Those aren't tears, honest. He's all man now. Never mind that he looks like a doe-eyed walking target with a sweet face. "It's about time I visited Alfheim again."